Even The Guardian, like most mainstream media (for reasons presumably known to editors), refused in the main to report the great variety of types of electoral fraud apparently observed (and judicially denounced) during the recent US Presidential elections. Now, it seems, we shall all be interested to read about similar irregularities arising during the forthcoming UK Parliamentary (or should that also read Presidential) elections.

Spare a thought, though, for those British citizens resident in the European Union who are currently denied the right to vote. In my case, I have been for the last three years officially resident in Spain. However, because I had not been registered to vote in the UK during the last 15 years, I now find myself completely disenfranchised at the national level. I can only vote in local municipal council and in European parliamentary elections.

In a European Union which attempts to explain away a perceived "democratic deficit" - the power and influence of leaders and ministers of national Governments and the Commission in relation to that of the European Parliament - by claiming that European national Governments are, after all, elected by their respective citizens, the disenfranchisement of British citizens resident elsewhere in the EU is clearly unacceptable and should be corrected as soon as possible.

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Andrew Paul Booth
Barcelona